Yaddo's executive chef, Michael Hazard, prepares a meal in the main house of the Saratoga Springs artists' retreat last week. Hazard and his staff cook for about
40 artists at a time in the summer and for about 15 in the winter. (ERICA MILLER/emiller@saratogian.com)

Yaddo's executive chef, Michael Hazard, prepares a meal in the main house of the Saratoga Springs artists' retreat last week. Hazard and his staff cook for about 40 artists at a time in the summer and for about 15 in the winter. (ERICA MILLER/emiller@saratogian.com)

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Select artists from all over the world travel to Yaddo's peaceful 400-acre estate to cultivate their art.

Michael A. Hazard is the man in the kitchen, ensuring all those talented stomachs are satisfied and ready to fuel creativity.

Hazard has been Yaddo's executive chef for 11 years and has refined and tweaked close to 500 recipes during that time. About 20 of those recipes will be published in a cookbook he is busy preparing.

In the back of the mansion, around the corner from the kitchen, is Hazard's office -- a room plastered with "thank you" cards and sketches from the grateful artists he's cooked for over the years.

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With his small black dog Friday seated happily at his feet, Hazard looked through his arsenal of recipes and explained the vision for his cookbook.

"Sometimes chefs keep the secrets out of their cookbooks," he said. "My recipes will come with the real way to make it and make it taste good."

As for his cooking style, Hazard said he leans toward comfort food. His marinara sauce and fried chicken receive rave reviews. He's a huge fan of cooking with garlic and fresh herbs.

The executive chef has been privy to a world long shielded from public view. Now, with his cookbook in the works, Hazard has begun to write down some of his favorite tales from the Yaddo kitchen to accompany the recipes and photographs.

"A famous writer ran into the kitchen one day and asked what cooks did when onions made them cry," Hazard recalled.

The chef thought for a moment about the many ways to deal with a potent, tear-inducing onion and remembered an old wives' tale that advised the sensitive onion-chopper to hold a stick match in his or her mouth while completing the task.

Hazard told the story to the flustered writer, who after hearing it screamed, "Perfect!" and rushed back upstairs to his room to add it to his book.

While many of his memories are witty anecdotes, like the one about the brilliant composer who couldn't quite figure out how to eat the ribs he was served for dinner, Hazard said some of Yaddo's juicier eccentricities might make their way into his book as well.

The chef-turned-writer is still finalizing what stories will accompany his recipes, but he has focused on writing with integrity.

"I'm a wise guy," Hazard explained with a grin, "but I twist toward the positive rather than the negative."

The blue-eyed cook and his little black dog have had the fascinating privilege of working in an environment surrounded by renowned composers, filmmakers, writers and artists -- his dog Friday has starred in films, been the subject of poems and been immortalized by visual artists more than a few times.

After writer Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan finished her first book at Yaddo, "A Tiger in the Kitchen," she wrote on her blog about the ease of being able to work all day in quiet solitude with no responsibilities other than showing up for Chef Mike's meals.

"Rooms get cleaned, sidewalks get shoveled. And three times a day, there is the food, culminating in a hearty dinner of chicken parmesan, grilled mahi mahi or tofu stir fries, flanked with fantastic soups and massive salads, complete with dessert," Lu-Lien Tan wrote.

Yaddo is a legendary retreat for artists founded by Spencer and Katrina Trask in 1900 after their four young children died, leaving the couple without heirs.

The Trasks' letter of intent insists that the mansion and sprawling grounds be used as a home and refuge for "authors, painters, sculptors, musicians and other artists, both men and women, few in number but chosen for their creative gifts ... their sole qualification being that they have done, or are doing, or give promise of doing good and earnest work."

Many have communicated the belief that Yaddo's grounds are inhabited by spiritual species, and Hazard is no different.

"Yes, I've seen things here in the kitchen," Hazard said, "but they are friendly spirits."

Yaddo is where Sylvia Plath shaped the poems that would later become her first volume of poetry, "Colossus." It's where Patricia Highsmith finished "Strangers on a Train" and Mario Puzo wrote parts of "The Godfather." Phillip Roth, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, William Gass, Truman Capote, John Cheever and the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson were all guests of Yaddo at one point in time.

The Yaddo kitchen, which dates back to 1893, is breathtaking with its Italian marble walls and windows decorated with muntins looking out over the sweeping grounds of Yaddo.

"It's the cleanest kitchen in Saratoga," Hazard said proudly as he absentmindedly dusted off an already spotless cutting board.

Hazard and his staff cook for about 40 artists at a time in the summer and for about 15 in the winter. Some recent menu items were oven-fried chicken, Momma Cerone braciola, harvest shepherd's pie and tacos de cerdo en salsa verde.

"The beauty of the place, the light and high ceilings -- I'm a privileged guest here, too, and I'm blessed to be here," Hazard said.

Recipe: Butternut squash lasagna

Chef Mike Hazard has tweaked and served this dish 17 times at Yaddo. It's a mouthwatering winter dish bursting with fresh herbs and veggies, bundled in cheese and noodles.

Chop fresh sage and thyme and hit with salt and pepper. If using dry lasagna, cook al dente and cool. Heat sauté pan and sauté onions with butter; add mushrooms for the last two minutes. Transfer to colander to drain and hold.

Toss butternut squash with chopped herbs and lightly coat mixture in oil. In a foil-covered pan, arrange squash in a single layer and roast in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mix the ricotta with half of the mozzarella, most of the parmesan and some seasonings. Mix in eggs. Mix the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses together.

Brush an 11x13 pan with oil and layer as follows:

o 1/3 ricotta mixture

o 1/2 noodles

o 1/3 ricotta mixture

o 1/2 butternut squash

o Mushroom mixture

o 1/2 remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses

o 1/2 noodles

o 1/3 ricotta mixture

o 1/2 butternut squash

Cover and wrap with foil. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and let the lasagna sit for 30 minutes to settle. Top with remaining cheese and bake another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let the lasagna settle for 15 minutes before cutting.